gratitude practices

Gratitude is the Key to Happiness

There are many different levels of gratitude depending on each individual, but it can be divided into two categories. One is gratitude by comparison and the other is gratitude without comparison but recognizing people for who they are and their immanent value. Some people think that they can be grateful if their conditions change for the better, saying “I can be grateful if;

I had more education resulting in a master’s degrees. (This may be true. I heard that you won’t have to wait a long time to receive a green card if you have a master’s degree from a college.)

My family was rich. (Some people had to give up pursuing their educations, purchasing a car, buying a house, going on vacation, etc.)

I were born 3 inches taller and had a more beautiful face.

These are all conditions and true gratitude is not being grateful to the condition but being grateful to whom we are as children of God and to everyone and everything by visualizing their True Image. We, Seicho-No-Ie members, practice gratitude unconditionally. It is easy to be grateful to an appreciative condition, but if an opposite situation occurs, instead of gratitude, anger and resentment will arise. To reach a state of mind of unconditional gratitude is our goal. Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi once said, “We must discover God’s love and wisdom within difficulties just as we do within His blessings.” However, those who cannot reach that state of mind can start to be grateful to things which they can be grateful. Comparative gratitude does not always provide you appreciative feelings. For example, when you find an envelope with $100 on the street, are you happy and grateful? You may feel that way. Then, how about this? You had an exam but didn’t study and just played with your friend all night. So you didn’t get a good score. However, your teacher generously went easy on you and you passed your exam. Do you think you are lucky and happy? Are you able to be grateful? You may be grateful; but if you heard that your friend who had also played with you didn’t pass the exam, would you be still happy? Would you still be grateful? Or, your scores were far from the average but your teacher didn’t give you an F saying, “You failed your exam. The test was not so difficult but your score was so poor. I heard you played all night. You are an IDIOT but I decided to let you pass your exam and gave a C instead of an F.” Are you happy and grateful? In this case I think many people wouldn’t be happy and grateful because the teacher only recognized that you were dumb. Picking up $100 on the street or passing the exam without studying is a kind of luck and we can be grateful, but this is not a religious gratitude or unconditional one that we are seeking. Real gratitude is to be grateful no matter what. Gratitude has a positive power of creation. If you are sincerely able to be grateful to everyone and everything in the universe no matter what, you will create a positive life in your destiny. Therefore, we have to practice gratitude not only when we are fortunate but also when we think we are unfortunate. People would be happy to be recognized for who they are. Most parents are grateful to their child not because she makes a lot of money or has a great score on her exam, but because she is their child. This is the most important thing for them and they are truly grateful for this fact. The ultimate gratitude in Seicho-No-Ie is that we are grateful to all people in the universe regardless of their cleverness, material possessions, background of their family, their age, their race or their sexual orientation. We are grateful to all people by seeing the divinity within them. Therefore, we are grateful to everyone and everything in the universe as she is and as it is.

I went to Ashland, Massachusetts as one of the speakers for the International Spiritual Training Seminar (ISTS) in 2006. At the seminar I heard a testimony from a woman who had attended an ISTS several times in the past. She shared her son’s incident which happened on April Fool’s Day. She and her son were originally from Brazil. Her son, who I believe was in his late 20’s at that time, received a paycheck from his company and went to the bank to deposit it. He also cashed several hundred-dollar bills from his deposit. When he used one of them at a grocery store, the store staff checked it with a money pen and saw that the hundred-dollar bill was a fake. The son insisted that it was not fake because he had just received it from the bank. The store manager called the police, and the son was arrested. He explained his story at the police station, but none of the police officers believed him. When he called his mother from the police station, she immediately started chanting “My son’s True Image is perfect and harmonious” several thousand times in order to visualize that her son was all right, and to receive protection from God. When the son was released from the police station and came home, he was exhausted because the police had tried to force him to confess to how and where he had obtained the counterfeit bill. They insisted that he return to the police station because they still did not believe his story. Meanwhile, his mother also chanted “thank you very much” for him over three thousand times. Then, the telephone rang, and the police informed the son that the authorities had determined that the money was in fact real. So, the police immediately cleared the son of any wrongdoing. What do you think of this story? When I heard this, I was appalled by the police’s attitude. Another person in the congregation shared with me that he had had a similar experience with the police. Then, I started thinking about this woman’s attitude. I didn’t know what went through her mind when she had answered her son’s first call from the police station. All she did and said was that she had consistently affirmed her belief in her son. If I were his mother, I would have asked the police for a formal apology, but she harbored no anger and was simply grateful to God for His guidance which led to this positive outcome. She didn’t allow herself to think negatively of this incident. She expressed her joy without any resentment. Gratitude is indeed important in our daily lives. Our founder, Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi wrote, “Be Grateful No Matter How Small Your Blessings”:

“No matter how small a blessing is, how small a gift is, or how small your happiness is, be grateful with a pure heart. If you are grateful to large blessings but not to the small blessings in your daily life, it means that your mind has become attached to quantity, falling into a business mentality. You should not look at the amount but at God’s love behind those blessings. When you have thoughts of gratitude, your mind will be purified. When your mind is purified, your mind’s wavelength will be in tune with the wavelength of infinite supply that is already in the True-Image World. Infinite supply will then be manifested in your life.” (Truth of Life, August 1999)

We learn the law of the mind in Seicho-No-Ie. When we fill gratitude in our minds, our situation will change in accordance with our minds. Therefore, no matter how difficult a situation you have, you must practice gratitude because gratitude is a very positive thought and at the same time a positive attitude and expression. In order to find this positive power, we must first be grateful to the blessings that we have received. The founder wrote, “Gratitude is to turn on the switch to start the flow of blessings”:

“If we want light, it is necessary that we turn on the switch. First, we must give out a certain amount of energy; then we are given light. If the sun is shining, and we want to receive its light, we must open our eyes. Only by the act of opening our eyes can we see the sunlight. In this way, we have been given all blessings; but we must be grateful to a blessing in order to make it our own.” (Truth of Life, February1985)

When I talk about gratitude, I always recall one story about Rev. Kobayashi who was a former member of the Seicho-No-Ie International Headquarters Board of Directors. When he was the Chief of one of the Seicho-No-Ie Missionary Areas, there was a long-time member in a city of this missionary area. This woman was very faithful to God and believed the teachings of Seicho-No-Ie deeply. Her family run a liquor store. One day she accidentally dropped of a box of bottled beers while carrying it. Unfortunately, a broken piece of glass hit one of her eyes and she was bleeding. Her daughter-in-law saw this and immediately approached her mother-in-law. The daughter-in-law was not serious about the teachings but the mother-in-law asked so she just joined as a member. When this incident happened, she was so amazed at her mother-in-law’s strong faith because she was being grateful to her eye although it was a horrible accident. When this daughter-in-law approached her mother-in-law, her mother was practicing “thank you very much” but had put her hands on the eye which had not been injured saying, “O God, thank you very much. My right eye is okay. It is not injured. My right eye is perfect and harmonious. Thank you very much.” In Seicho-No-Ie we practice gratitude whenever we receive any blessing. This mother-in-law was grateful to her one eye which was not hurt instead of covering her injured eye and screaming. She was immediately taken to the hospital and the doctors told the family that she would lose her eye sight. She practiced gratitude in the hospital every day. Initially, she was told that she needed to be hospitalized for a few many weeks, but her eye recovered dramatically and she left the hospital in a few weeks and recovered her eye sight. Rev. Kobayashi always admired her faith in God. Our gratitude should be like what this woman did. We must discover God’s love and wisdom within difficulties just as we do within His blessings. We should never look down on small things which we are granted such as having daily meals, living in America, being born with no physical defects, and so on.

A friend of my daughter was born with the condition of type 1 diabetes and does not produce insulin at all. He has to take medicine before every meal, snack or even any drinks. However, as long as I know, he never complains about his medical condition. He just copes with his condition to live. I know him for a while and I am so amazed by his positive attitude. Compared to him we have many things to be grateful for, but we tend to complain about our misfortune. Therefore, we consciously need to practice unconditional gratitude. Let us be grateful to being served with delicious food at home. Let us be grateful for having wonderful arms and legs. Please be grateful, when you wake up and before going to bed, to everyone and everything in the universe. Let us not see the dark side of things and circumstances but be grateful to everyone and everything in the universe. “Thank you very much” is one of the most powerful words to change our lives.

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